NVR Homes, Inc.

College Recruiting

ASSESS

NVR Homes, Inc. is one of the largest homebuilders in the nation, with annual revenues in excess of $3.6 billion and over 4,200 employees. Ongoing growth at the company placed a greater emphasis on recruiting college candidates to fill expanding opportunities in sales and project supervision. NVR wanted to substantially boost their recruiting presence on college campuses throughout the Eastern Seaboard, so they contacted Bernard Hodes Group.

STRATEGIZE

After carefully assessing the situation, we proposed conducting focus group sessions with our client's most recent college hires. The goal was to ascertain the most effective recruitment message for this target audience. The focus groups identified that a significant percentage of candidates did not fully understand NVR as an organization prior to the recruiting process. They were unaware of NVR's status as one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., and of their exceptional stability and growth. Additionally, candidates did not know NVR counted among its brands one of the most well known names in the business, Ryan Homes. Participants also shared the most important qualities they looked for in a career (i.e., responsibility, autonomy, training, challenge, advancement, freedom, and organizational vigor).

Our analysis of the data revealed that NVR needed new recruitment materials that would clearly communicate their business niche, underscore their record of growth, showcase their many home brands, and speak directly to those career elements that college candidates deemed most desirable. We created a campaign with the theme “NVR: Careers that mean more” as its central message. The strategy was to position our client as the employer that offered “more”—more opportunity, training, choices, and stability. The objective was to provide greater detail about our client and their career opportunities, so that candidates could clearly see why NVR was an employer of choice.

IMPLEMENT

The college recruitment materials that were created included new folders, brochures, flyers, career fair displays, and print ads for placement in campus newspapers. A new career Web site was also developed to provide a comprehensive picture of the many opportunities and growth paths being offered. The Web site features employee testimonials that enable job seekers to gain personal insight into the daily responsibilities and unique characteristics of specific NVR job categories.

MEASURE

NVR's first experience with the new college materials was extraordinary. They received positive feedback from more than 150 students at a campus career fair, and 80 students attended their information session later that day. This was a 40% increase in attendance when compared to previous records. The added bonus was that many candidates had never heard of NVR Homes before. Our client is well on its way to achieving their college hiring goals and “more.”